The House on the Strand

Rating:
Summary: Disgruntled Brit editor takes unexpected visit to 1083 AD
Review: Novel concept of time travel with rewarding glimpses into medieval life of southern England. Provocative sub-plot makes this a page turner. Occasionally stilted language but absolutely no dead spots. Leaves reader wondering about the possibilities, particularly as the science of original publication date (late 60's) wasn't nearly as sophisticated as today's.Exceptionally well told story with few contrived devices. I'm surprised it's never been made into film

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful piece of fiction
Review: The House on the Strand is a less-known book by Daphne DuMaurier, the woman who gave us Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. Here she interweaves past and present together in a novel that is just as rich as anything she has ever written.

Magnus Lane is a professor at the University of London, who has created a potion that can send you back in time. He uses his friend Dick Young as a "human guinea pig" to test its effects. Dick finds himself thrust back into the days of the 14th century, in the days of Isolda Carminowe and Henry and Otto Bodrugan, who lived in the exact place in which Dick has decided to vacation. Dick follows the knight Roger Kylmerth, and finds himself becoming more and more involved with the manor lords of the 1320's- with an almost disastrous effect upon himself and his family in the present time.

It is a novel in which past and present run at parallels with one another, and even almost collide. Its a haunting book, sinister in fact, in which time matters a great deal; a book which points out the fact that sometimes the present time is indistinguishable from the present. Its power will haunt you long after you have closed its covers.


Rating:
Summary: An unusual, interesting story
Review: The House on the Strand is a very strange story. I read it because I enjoyed Rebecca, but it was nothing like it. I enjoyed it just as much, though. It really holds the readers attention throughout the novel, which takes place in two different times-modern day England, and 1328 AD. Even if someone is not interested in the fourteenth century, they will still find the book difficult to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: The House on the Strand is one of Du Maurier's best. It maintains a haunting ambience throughout. Du Maurier has spun a tale that effectively takes us back and forth in time, and I, for one, wanted to remain in that nebulous past. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Logically illogical
Review: This book is quite boring since the main character kept going back and forth between time zone. No color and drama in this novel. Hard for reader to digest since so many characters were introduced and the 'out of this world' kind of plot is too hard to believe even to the most Science-Fiction -minded readers.

Rating:
Summary: The Finest Time Travel Ever
Review: This book is so wonderful that I have read it over and over yet still find something new about it every time. The blend of mid-20th century values and medieval mystery and murder is incredibly well handled, and the deftness with which Du Maurier weaves the two together is the finest artistry. The ending, of course, stops one's breath. This book is one of the all-time masterpieces, and anyone who hasn't read it should get out and BUY IT NOW!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, haunting, and unusual book
Review: This book is the haunting (and at times horrifying) tale of a man who experiments with hallucinogenic drugs and finds himself experiencing another world, one that existed in the fourteenth century. "The House on the Strand" describes not only his experiences in the other world, but how he faces this new reality in his daily life. This is a very unusual book, but it is terrifically interesting and pulls you quickly in as it moves from fairy tale to psychological drama. It is different from anything else written by Daphne Du Maurier, but it might be her best work.

Rating:
Summary: Well-conceived and researched, flat characters
Review: Time travel in the company of a boring and fussy Brit twit protagonist is not a journey I'd sign up for again. Al Gore's word "snippy" was invented for this guy. The characters he shadows in the 14th century are equally dullish and two dimensional, plus who's betraying whom -- politically and maritally -- pales quickly. I read waiting for the twist (it is a nice ending!) and for the very thoroughly researched details of Cornwall now and six centuries ago. Unfortunately, one feels considerably more interest in the drug, that transporting liquid, than in anything else, not a good sign for a novel of really unrequited love. The final fifty pages fly past but getting to that point is as much of a slog as the time travelers moving through the cold marshes and estuaries of the past.